A GoodGym classic - a hardcore pruning session for three trees that had become rather overgrown!

It's officially headtorch season, and armed with a very fun array of loppers and secateurs, we got to work along the perimeter of the garden at Cressfield Close, taking back all the overgrown foliage to clear some space. We left the one late flowering rose in place, but had lots of other thorny branches to contend with!

Once a huge pile of cuttings had been raked together we had a slightly tricker challenge - working out if we could fit it all into one wheely bin.

Luckily, we're quite adept at condensing down green matter now, so the pile was rapidly sliced up and compacted into about a quarter of its original size!

We left the garden looking much neater, and reader for part of the fence to be repaired to maintain the resident's privacy.

St Peter’s was looking really nice this evening, especially with the lights we put up during our last session now all lit up!

We split into two groups, with one group outside collecting up the leaves and clearing them away. Once we had gathered them all up, they were put into the compost, giving them a chance to eventually go back into the ground and give something back to the garden.

The other group definitely had a more hands-on job, getting stuck into taking things down, unscrewing bits, carrying boxes and helping to clear and reorganise the space inside the church. There was plenty to get involved with, and everyone was happy to get stuck in.

Lucinda was also busy giving one of the benches a fresh coat of paint, while a few cats made an appearance outside too!

With so many people coming along, it made for a really enjoyable evening with plenty of teamwork, good vibes and lots getting done.

Another perfect morning greeted us under the Big Tree today - and the blue sky, sunshine and ideal parkrunning conditions (occasional fallen leaves aside) brought out a crowd, with 61 runners completing today's 2 lapper around the fields, which included 8 absolute first timers and a whole series of PBs. Excellent work by all concerned.

Nick, as today's RD, was very glad to have the support of London Fields GG regulars Sooz and Hilary, along with Fuad, John and Louise who had answered the call to various local GG groups for more hands, and volunteers Gary, Marion, Nick, Tom and Ching-Yi, who all kindly gave up their time this morning to make it all run as smoothly as it did. Judging by the (mostly) smiles and out of breath faces as runners got their barcodes scanned having sprinted down the finishing straight, everyone did a great job.

We'll be back next week under the big tree for more of the same - can't ensure it'll be the same clear blue skies, but join us if you can - feelgood and happy smiley junior runners guaranteed.